M. C. Escherfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher was famous for his prints that fooled the eye and intrigued the mind. His work is unique in modern art.

Escher was born on June 17, 1898, in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He first studied architecture at the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While there, he became more interested in printmaking. In 1924, Escher married Jetta Umiker and the couple settled in Rome, Italy. In 1935, political turmoil forced the Eschers to move first to Switzerland and then to Belgium. In 1941 they moved to Baarn, the Netherlands.

While he lived in Italy, Escher often depicted Rome and the Italian countryside in his art. Afterward, his interest shifted from landscape to what he described as "mental imagery." These new works were partly inspired by tiles he found on Moorish architecture in Granada, Spain. Escher used the tiles' flattened patterns of interlocking shapes. But he replaced the abstract Moorish decorations with recognizable figures (such as fish, birds, and reptiles). The woodcut Day and Night (1938) was one of his first works to demonstrate this technique. Escher also used this technique in his famous Metamorphose III (1967-68). This work features a series of interlocking shapes and figures that continually change over the woodcut's 23-foot (7-meter) length.

Some prints by Escher depict buildings and staircases that appear to be realistically drawn but are actually optical illusions. Examples include the lithographs Belvadere (1958) and Ascending and Descending (1960). Other prints depict flat, two-dimensional drawings that seem to transform into three-dimensional objects. In the lithograph Drawing Hands (1948), for example, two hands appear to rise off the paper as they draw each other.

Escher gained international fame beginning in the 1950's. Magazine articles were written about him, and he lectured about the design and meaning of his art. Escher made his last print (the woodcut Snakes) in 1969. He died on March 27, 1972, in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

Salvador Dalifrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Salvador Dali was a Spanish surrealist painter. He used a highly realistic technique to create what he called "hand-painted dream photographs." His painting The Persistence of Memory (1931) is among the best known of all surrealist works.

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali was born in Figueres, Spain, on May 11, 1904. He studied at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid from 1921 to 1926. During this period, Dali painted landscapes and still lifes as he experimented with impressionism, cubism, and realism.

On a visit to Paris in 1928, Dali met the artists and writers of the surrealist group. He moved to Paris in 1929 and soon became an important member of this movement. The surrealists were influenced by the theories of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. They believed that people's true thoughts were hidden in their unconscious minds and in their dreams. Surrealist artists tried to show this world of the unconscious. They did this by painting images from their imagination.

Dali's surrealist paintings were filled with haunting, bizarre, and even grotesque images. He often depicted familiar objects in an altered or distorted state. An example is the melting watches in his famous Persistence of Memory. Other paintings feature repeating images. Or they show objects that can be perceived as two different things at the same time, as in Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937). Dali also used symbols and visual metaphors in such paintings as The Burning Giraffe (1937) and Sleep (1937).

Dali extended the influence of surrealism beyond painting. He collaborated with the Spanish director Luis Buñuel on two surrealist films. These were An Andalusian Dog (1929) and The Golden Age (1930). And he designed a famous dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's film Spellbound (1945). He also designed jewelry, furniture, advertisements, and theatrical sets and costumes.

In Dali's later paintings, he turned away from surrealism. He began to depict more religious subjects. He often used his wife, Gala, as a model. Paintings of this period include Christ of St. John of the Cross (1951) and The Last Supper (1955).

Dali was also a gifted writer. His literary works include a surrealistic novel, Hidden Faces (1944), and autobiographical works, such as Diary of a Genius (1965). Museums dedicated to his art are in Figueres and in St. Petersburg, Florida.

After the death of his wife in 1982, Dali spent much of his time in seclusion. He died in 1989.

Picasso, Pablo

from The New Book of Knowledge®

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso—the most famous artist of the 20th century—was born on October 25, 1881, in Málaga, Spain. When Pablo was very young, his family moved to Barcelona. At an early age Picasso showed great talent. He especially liked to paint pictures of the city life around him. In 1896 he entered the School of Fine Arts, where his father was a professor.

Around the turn of the century, Paris was the world center of art and literature. Picasso visited the city in 1900 and fell under the spell of the artistic atmosphere. He returned a year later, and he settled on the Left Bank in 1904. He was very poor, but his studio became a meeting place for many artists, writers, and composers.

In Paris, Picasso still painted scenes of the day-to-day life of poor people in his neighborhood. He was also fascinated by circus life and painted a series of circus pictures. Early in the century his works were painted in varieties of gray-blues. The figures were long, thin, and sad. These paintings belong to what is called Picasso's blue period.

Like many other young artists in Paris at that time, Picasso was influenced by the work of Paul Cézanne. Cézanne had tried to show the geometric forms that he saw in nature. Picasso and his friend the painter Georges Braque attempted to portray the many different geometric planes of an object all at once. For example, they might paint a full face with one eye and with the nose in profile (a side view). This style became known as cubism because in the paintings objects were composed of geometric forms such as cubes and cones. Picasso and Braque were also among the first to make collages by pasting various scraps of materials onto flat surfaces.

In 1917, Picasso went to Rome to design scenery and costumes for the Russian Ballet's production of Parade. He married Olga Koklova, one of the ballerinas, and they had a son, Paulo. Picasso did not care for the social world in which he found himself. But Olga enjoyed it. He became unhappy, and the distorted, sad figures in his paintings of this period reflect his unhappiness.

Civil war broke out in Spain in 1936. The following year, the ancient city of Guernica was destroyed by bombs. Picasso was enraged at this inhuman act. All his bitterness was released in his brilliant mural Guernica. Picasso worked at such a furious pace that the mural was completed within a few weeks and was shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1937. The mural shows the terrified people of the town, their mouths open wide in screams. Images from bullfighting are used to symbolize the brutality of war. While some artists might have painted the scene in bloody reds and other vivid colors, Picasso painted Guernica entirely in black, white, and shades of gray.

During World War II, Picasso lived in Paris, which was at that time under Nazi occupation. Because the Nazis did not approve of modern art, Picasso had to hide his paintings in a secret vault in the Bank of France. His work during this period included a play, Desire Caught by the Tail (1941).

After the war Picasso moved to a huge house in the south of France. There he continued to experiment with painting as well as sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, and collage. In 1958 he painted a large mural for a United Nations building in Paris. His marriage to Jacqueline Roque, a Frenchwoman, took place in 1961. In 1962, he was awarded the Lenin peace prize.

Picasso's moods were known to change as often as his styles. He was thoughtful and distant at times, but he also displayed a fine sense of humor. His art was extremely valuable even in his own lifetime because of the great variety of his styles. He used elements from the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, the ancient Greeks, El Greco, and African sculptors. The large number of his fine works during any one period would have satisfied another artist. But Picasso never stopped experimenting. His great imagination and outstanding skill earned for him the name El Maestro ("the master") of modern art.

Picasso died at his home in southern France on April 8, 1973, at the age of 91.

Edgar Degas, from The New Book of Knowledge®

The French painter Edgar Degas was born on July 19, 1834, in Paris. His father was a wealthy banker who was raised in Italy. His mother, descended from French nobility, was born in New Orleans. Degas grew up in elegant Paris society. He spent many hours in museums, theaters, and concert halls. After studying painting briefly in Paris, Degas went to Italy to learn directly from the works of the old masters. While there, he painted masterful portraits of his Italian relatives. He returned to Paris in 1859.

In 1865, Degas met a group of young artists later known as the impressionists. He helped organize their exhibits, and from 1874 to 1886, he was a leading exhibitor. At the Paris cafés where the impressionists met, he was known for his aloof manner and biting wit.

Degas took his subjects from everyday life, choosing poses that showed the human body in action--women ironing, ballet dancers practicing or rubbing their tired ankles, women bathing or combing their hair. In these pictures he seemed to catch a passing moment. Whether he worked in oil paints, charcoal, or pastels, Degas was always a master of line.

The last years of Degas' life were bitter and lonely. He lived alone and saw few people. For a long time, Degas had suffered from failing eyesight, and work became more and more difficult. He turned to sculpture because he could shape it without seeing it. He did many statues of horses and dancers in motion. Finally he was unable to work at all. He died on September 27, 1917, at the age of 83.

Reviewed by Frank GetleinAuthor, The French Impressionists

Jasper Johns,from The New Book of Knowledge®

Jasper Johns is a major figure in modern American art. He is renowned for his innovative treatment of everyday subjects in his paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia, on May 15, 1930. He began to draw as a child and decided early on to become an artist. Johns was largely self-taught. But he briefly attended the University of South Carolina and the Parsons School of Design.

In 1954, a dream compelled Johns to begin a series of paintings depicting his best-known subject, the American flag. His work has since featured images of what Johns called "things the mind already knows." These include targets, maps, words, and stenciled numbers and letters. He is a prominent practitioner of encaustic painting, in which pigments are mixed with hot wax. Using this technique, Johns creates distinct brushstrokes and subtly textured surfaces.

The history and practice of making art is another of Johns's frequent subjects. In his paintings, he has incorporated paint cans and brushes as well as visual references to artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Matthias Grünewald. His work has also included images of his own paintings, shadows, and handprints.

Johns has been celebrated as a pioneer of pop art ("popular art") since the late 1950's. But his work has become increasingly abstract. In the late 1960's he began depicting flagstone patterns. In the 1970's his work often featured crosshatch designs. Johns's later work has included painted illusions that fool the eye into seeing three dimensions on a flat surface. An example is Perilous Night (1982).

Jessica StewartNational Gallery of Art

Paul Kleefrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Paul Klee was one of the most original artists of the 20th century. He followed no movement, and there is no single term that describes his style. In his paintings Klee created a world of his own--a dreamy world that suggests poetry and the rhythms of music.

Klee was born on December 18, 1879, in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland. He learned to love music from his father, a German music teacher. Paul chose painting as a career, but music had a great influence on his work.

In 1898, Klee went to Munich to study art. Four years later, he moved to Bern and produced a series of etchings. In 1906, he settled in Munich and married Lily Stumpf, a piano teacher. The couple had a son, Felix.

In 1912, Klee exhibited his paintings with German artists known as the Blue Rider group. A short trip to Tunisia in 1914 proved to be a turning point in Klee's art. Up to this time, he had worked mostly in black and white. In Tunisia, Klee "discovered" color. The brilliant red sun there seemed to make all colors brighter and deeper. Color then became the basis of his art. "Color and I are one," he wrote in his diary.

Klee was a quiet, thoughtful man. He took long walks alone and loved to watch the flowers and leaves moving in the breeze. He painted with great precision on small canvases. His subjects included yellow birds resting on purple branches, floating cities of squares and rectangles, and mazes of lines.

After 1921, Klee taught at the Bauhaus, an art school in Germany. In 1930, he left to become a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. Disagreeing with Nazi policies, Klee left Germany in 1933. He returned to Switzerland, where he lived until his death on June 29, 1940.

Reviewed by Harold SpencerUniversity of Connecticut

Claude Monetfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Claude Monet, a French landscape painter, was one of the founders of the style of art known as impressionism. He was born in Paris on November 14, 1840, but spent his childhood in Le Havre. When Monet was 15, he held an exhibit that interested the painter Eugène Boudin. Boudin persuaded him to take his materials outdoors to paint. Monet continued this practice throughout his life.

In 1860, after studying in Paris for a year, Monet joined the army and went to Algeria. He returned to Paris two years later. There he married and had two sons. In the Paris studio of Charles Gleyre, Monet met many other promising young artists, with whom he exhibited in 1874. The critics did not like their works and made fun of these "impressionists." The term was taken from the title of Monet's landscape Impression: Sunrise.

Impressionism began at the time (the early 1870's) and in the setting of Monet's painting Boats at Argenteuil. Argenteuil is a suburb of Paris, on the Seine River. There the artists Monet, Manet, and Renoir painted together and learned from one another. By watching Monet, Manet became convinced for the first time that it was indeed possible to paint outdoors. Monet and Renoir painted so much alike that it was sometimes difficult for them to tell who had painted certain views.

Monet and the other impressionists placed unmixed colors side by side on their canvases to show how light splits into the colors of the prism—ike a rainbow. To show how light could completely change the appearance of an object, Monet painted the same scene at different times of the day and year. For example, he painted the Rouen Cathedral 20 times, in conditions varying from a misty summer dawn to a brilliant winter sunset.

Monet's first wife died in 1879, and he later married a woman with several children of her own. In 1883 the couple moved to Giverny, where the artist created the gardens that inspired his paintings of water lilies.

Monet did not become famous or earn much money until he was over 50 years old. Then his paintings began to sell for higher prices. In 1916 the French government bought eight of Monet's paintings of water lilies. Although his eyesight began to fail, Monet painted until his death in Giverny on December 5, 1926.

Frank GetleinAuthor, The French Impressionists

Leonardo da Vincifrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Perhaps no one in history achieved so much in so many different fields as did Leonardo da Vinci. An outstanding painter, sculptor, and architect, he also designed bridges, highways, weapons, costumes, and scientific instruments. He invented the diving bell and tank, and—though they could not be built with the materials of the time—flying machines. He made important discoveries about the structure of the human body.

From his notebooks we can tell that Leonardo approached science and art in the same methodical manner: after studying a problem, he made many sketches to help him find a solution. He saw no difference between planning a machine and a painting, and he became an expert in every field that interested him.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in the town of Vinci, Italy, in 1452. His father was a successful government official, and his mother was a peasant girl. Leonardo spent his early years on his family's farm. Free to explore in the fields and streams, he grew to love the outdoors. He had a keen interest in how things work. He bought caged birds in the marketplace and set them free. He did this because he could not stand to see birds in cages and also because he wanted to learn exactly how birds fly.

By 1469 Leonardo had moved with his father to Florence, where the young man was apprenticed to the painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio (1435?-88). In the 7 or more years Leonardo spent in Verrocchio's studio he was especially inspired by his teacher's imaginative sculpture. By 1472, Leonardo became a master of the painters' guild. A few years later he painted such a beautiful angel that Verrocchio, his master, is said to have given up painting for good.

After this, Leonardo's skill as a painter must have been known, for he painted an altarpiece, The Adoration of the Kings, for the monks of Scopeto. The Adoration had a great influence on younger painters. The Virgin Mary is shown in a large landscape. She and the three kings stand out among the many figures because of Leonardo's use of chiaroscuro—contrasts of light and dark. He made many drawings for this work. What we see today is only the first stage, for Leonardo left the painting unfinished in 1481. Leonardo often abandoned works, regardless of their state of completion. After he had solved a particular problem, he went on to other projects that interested him.

About 1482, Leonardo left Florence to enter the house of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. While there, he painted court portraits, supervised pageants, designed costumes, built machines of war, and even installed central heating in the palace. He also supposedly played the lyre and sang to entertain the Duke and his friends.

While in Milan, Leonardo worked on his magnificent painting, The Last Supper. Because he worked slowly, Leonardo painted in oil on a damp wall instead of using the fresco technique (painting with watercolors on wet plaster). This experiment was not successful, and the painting began to peel soon after Leonardo's death. Although it is now badly damaged, it is still an extraordinary picture. By cutting out all unnecessary details Leonardo emphasized the drama of the event.

One of Leonardo's greatest interests was the study of the human body. At first, like other artists of the 15th century, he studied the outward appearance of the body. Then he became fascinated with its inner structure and dissected corpses to find out how the body was put together. His studies of the heart, especially, were quite advanced. Leonardo looked at plants as closely as he looked at people and animals, and he made many discoveries about plant growth.

Soon after he arrived in Milan, Leonardo began to write down things that interested him. His notebooks show the great variety and originality of his scientific observations. He illustrated his theories with very beautiful and exact drawings. By studying his drawings of machines, 20th-century engineers, with modern materials, have been able to build models that work perfectly. The notebooks are hard to read because he used mirror writing. He did not want his ideas to be stolen.

Leonardo briefly served Prince Cesare Borgia in Rome as a military engineer. In 1503 he returned to Florence, where he spent a few very productive years. The most outstanding and only completed painting of this period is his portrait of a Florentine lady, the Mona Lisa. This portrait is famous for the delicately painted features of the woman's face and for the rich sfumato ("smoky") effects of the mountainous landscape in the background. While in Florence, Leonardo was commissioned to paint a battle scene on a wall of the Great Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. Again Leonardo experimented, this time with wax paint. The work began to melt even before he finished it. Leonardo was disappointed. But as a scientist, he knew that to achieve success, people must expect some experiments to fail.

While in France, Leonardo was stricken with partial paralysis. He had to stop painting, but his mind remained active. During his last years he received countless visitors, who listened with awe to the master's brilliant ideas about art and science.

People of the Renaissance set impossibly high goals for themselves. Leonardo da Vinci, the person who came closest to reaching all of those goals, died in his French château on May 2, 1519.

Reviewed by Aaron H. Jacobsen

Author, The Renaissance Sketchbook

James Whistlerfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The American-born painter James Whistler is best known for his portrait of his mother. But this famous picture was just one of a huge output that ranged from etchings of river scenes to paintings of night landscapes.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born on July 10, 1834, in Lowell, Massachusetts. When James was 9, his father was hired by the Russian Government to construct a railroad. In St. Petersburg, James was given his first drawing lessons.

The Whistlers returned to the United States in 1849. When James was 17, he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After three years his indifference led to his dismissal. He then worked as a mapmaker and learned the technique of etching. During this period he decided to make art his career.

In 1855, Whistler went to Paris to study painting. Four years later he moved to London. He painted and etched scenes along the Thames River. These pictures—gray, misty, and moody—were influenced somewhat by Japanese prints, of which Whistler was very fond. His landscapes and portraits were very subtle, for Whistler was more interested in capturing moods than in reproducing actual colors.

In 1877 the art critic John Ruskin criticized one of Whistler's paintings. Ruskin accused Whistler of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler sued Ruskin for slander. Technically Whistler won the case, but sentiment was against him, and he was awarded only 1 farthing (less than 1 cent). The costs of the trial bankrupted him.

Whistler then went to Venice to make etchings and pastel pictures. These brought him back into public favor. His later portraits of socially prominent people, still very moody and personal, won him international fame. He enjoyed this fame until his death in London on July 17, 1903.

Reviewed by William H. GerdtsCity University of New York, Graduate School and University Center

O'Keeffe, Georgiafrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Bones bleached white by the desert sun, flowers, rolling hills, rocks, trees, and the sky itself are frequent subjects of paintings by the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Her works portray nature simply but dramatically, with precise lines and glowing colors.

Georgia O'Keeffe was born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on November 15, 1887. At the age of 16, she went to study art in Chicago. She later continued her studies in New York City. In 1912 she accepted a position as an art teacher at a small college in Texas.

A selection of her drawings was exhibited in New York City in 1916, at the gallery of Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer. The drawings were well received. In 1918, O'Keeffe moved to New York to paint. She became friendly with a group of artists who gathered at Stieglitz' gallery, and in 1924 she married Stieglitz and joined him in running the gallery. Some of her most famous works date from this period. In flower studies such as Black Iris (1926), she enlarged a flower and painted it in its simplest form by eliminating detail. During the 1920's and 1930's, she also painted many views of the New York City skyline.

After Stieglitz died in 1946, O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico. She settled down near Abiquiu, on the edge of the desert. The wild juniper and aspen trees around her house and the stark hills of the desert became inspirations for her paintings, as did animal bones she found in the desert. In 1984 she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lived until her death on March 6, 1986.

In her works, O'Keeffe combined simplicity with strength. She is known as an artist who drew inspiration from nature and made it into an artistic expression wholly her own.

Patrick Stewart,Williams College

Mary Cassattfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Mary Cassatt was the foremost American woman painter of the 19th century. She was also the only American to exhibit paintings with the French impressionists--artists who revolutionized painting by using bright colors, small brushstrokes, and informal subjects.

Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, in Allegheny City (now a part of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania. She knew early that she wanted to be a painter. In 1861 she enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and later went on to study in Europe.

In 1872, Cassatt had a painting accepted for the Paris Salon, the official exhibition sponsored by the French Academy of Fine Arts. A year later, she settled permanently in Paris. She soon became aware of the impressionists, especially of Edgar Degas, who became her teacher and lifelong friend. The work of the impressionists was not approved by the Academy. But it appealed to Cassatt. She stopped entering works for the Salon and exhibited with the impressionists.

Cassatt made women her main subject. In her work, we see women in their everyday lives. Often they are seen enjoying and caring for their children, especially babies.

The taste of Cassatt's time was for highly idealized mothers and children. In contrast, Cassatt painted people as she saw them. But her truth reveals a beauty that has endured. Her work became popular in Paris, and she was the first impressionist to support herself by her art. She died in her country house outside Paris on June 14, 1926.

Frank GetleinAuthor, Mary Cassatt

Andy Warholfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is often called the Prince of Pop. He was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 6, 1928. His parents were Czech immigrants. He studied art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. After graduating in 1949, he settled in New York City, where he became a successful commercial artist.

By the early 1960's Warhol had won recognition as a painter, though his works were controversial at first. His technique was meticulous, yet his themes disregarded traditional artistic standards. A leader in the style that came to be called pop art, Warhol drew from American popular culture for his subjects. Among the familiar images he depicted were consumer products, such as Coca-Cola bottles and Campbell's soup cans, and the faces of celebrities, from actress Marilyn Monroe to Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Using a printmaking process called silk screening, he duplicated these images many times over, varying only the colors. This repetition is an important element in understanding his work.

Warhol himself became a celebrity. He wore a platinum white wig and was devoted to showmanship and art collecting. He also made experimental films, produced records, and wrote books such as The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again (1975). He died in New York City on February 22, 1987, of a heart attack, following gallstone surgery. He was buried in Pittsburgh.

Howard E. WoodenDirector Emeritus The Wichita Art Museum

Vincent Van Goghfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The paintings of Vincent van Gogh are mirrors of his intense personality. He was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, the Netherlands. From 1869 to 1876 he worked for an art dealer. He then became a schoolmaster in England for a short time.

Van Gogh did not get along well with individuals, but he had a deep love for humanity. He decided to become a minister, like his father. But he gave up theological studies in 1878 to do missionary work among the miners in Belgium. When this venture failed, in 1880, van Gogh returned to the Netherlands. He had been drawing for several years, and he buried himself in his art. He painted pictures of the fields and peasants around his father's church. We can see the dark colors and heavy forms he used then in The Potato Eaters (1885). He was also attracted to Japanese prints. From his study of these came his later emphasis on bold patterns of color and lively linear rhythms.

Van Gogh's brother Theo lived in Paris and worked for an art dealer. In 1886, he went to live with Theo, who introduced him to the impressionists. The impressionists were artists who tried to reproduce in their paintings the effects of light striking solid objects. Under their influence, van Gogh learned to paint in lighter colors and freer forms. But he did not follow the impressionists exactly. He developed his own expressionistic style, making his paintbrush express his inner feelings.

In 1888, van Gogh moved to Arles, in southern France. With swirling brushstrokes and pure, bright colors, he painted countless self-portraits, objects from his own room, the countryside, and people of the town.

The artist Paul Gauguin joined him in the fall, but their personalities clashed. At Christmas time, van Gogh suffered a nervous breakdown and slashed off part of his own left ear. After a time in an asylum at Saint-Rémy, he moved to Auvers, near Paris in May, 1890.

All his life van Gogh thought himself a burden to the only person who encouraged him, his brother Theo. At last, in despair over this thought and further mental breakdowns, he shot himself and died on July 29, 1890.

Reviewed by Harold Spencer, University of Connecticut

Kate Greenawayfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Beautiful children dressed in the charming style of the early 1800's: Long flowing dresses, ribbons and bows, pinafores and hats, buttoned trousers and ruffled shirts. These are the boys and girls drawn by the author and illustrator Kate Greenaway.

Catherine Greenaway was born in London, England, on March 17, 1846. Her mother was a shopkeeper. Her father was a well-known wood engraver. As a child, Kate showed a talent for drawing. At age 12 she began formal art training.

Greenaway began her career designing greeting cards and illustrating the works of other writers. For her first book, Under the Window (1878), she wrote verses to accompany a collection of her drawings. It was an immediate success. Later books for which she supplied both text and illustrations include Language of Flowers (1884), Marigold Garden (1885), and A—Apple Pie (1886). She also illustrated The Queen of the Pirate Isle (1880), by American author Bret Harte, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1888), by English poet Robert Browning.

The charm of Greenaway's children caught the fancy of the public. Her style influenced the fashion world of her day. Her illustrations were used on such items as greeting cards, china, buttons, embroidery patterns, dolls, and even wallpaper. Her work was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in London. In 1898 she was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors.

Kate Greenaway died in London on November 6, 1901. Her quaint illustrations helped change the appearance of children's books, making them more entertaining and enjoyable.

Susan Ruth ThomsonAuthor, A Catalogue of the Kate Greenaway Collection, Rare Book Room, Detroit Public Library

Grandma Mosesfrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The artist Grandma Moses became famous for her simple, bright, cheerful paintings of American farm life. Her full name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses. But she was known to everyone as Grandma Moses because she did not begin to paint seriously until she was in her seventies.

Anna Mary Robertson was born on September 7, 1860, on a farm in Greenwich, New York. She was one of ten children. Life on the farm was hard, and Anna had little schooling. Her days were filled with farm chores—feeding the animals, gathering eggs, and making soap. But she often found time to make pictures. Because she had no proper paints, she used house paint, scraps of colored paper, the juice of wild berries, and even laundry bluing for her colors.

Soon, however, she became too busy to draw or paint. At the age of 12, she went to work as a servant for a family nearby. She worked for other people for many years. Then, when she was 27, she married Thomas Moses, a farmer. And they began raising a family of their own. They moved to a farm near Staunton, Virginia, and later to another at Eagle Bridge, New York. Thomas Moses died there in 1927.

As she grew older, Anna Moses could no longer do heavy farmwork. She took up needlework, but her hands became too stiff to continue. Then, in her seventies, she began to paint in oils. Her pictures showed things she recalled from childhood—farm scenes, small villages, picnics, ice-skating, bringing home the Christmas tree. The forms were simple, and the colors bright and cheerful.

Grandma Moses had a fine memory for detail, and her pictures recorded a way of life that was quickly passing away. People everywhere loved these happy scenes, and soon her paintings were shown in art galleries. She continued to paint almost until her death, on December 13, 1961, at the age of 101.

Reviewed by Jane KallirAuthor, Grandma Moses: The Artist Behind the Myth

Diego Riverafrom The New Book of Knowledge®

Mexican artist Diego Rivera was the leader of an artistic and political movement (1923-30) that celebrated the native history and culture of Mexico with vast public murals.

Rivera was born on December 8, 1886, in the mining town of Guanajuato. At age 10 he entered the Academy of San Carlos, a noted art school in Mexico City. He graduated with a fine arts degree in 1905.

When the Mexican Revolution began in 1910, Rivera went to live in Paris. His best-known work from this period is Zapatista Landscape--The Guerrilla (1915). It is a cubist portrait of the revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata. Zapata is portrayed as a collection of geometric shapes--including his gun and parts of his hat, shawl, and face--floating in front of a realistic landscape of the Valley of Mexico.

After the Revolution ended in 1920, the new Mexican government asked Rivera to return and create murals that celebrated native history and culture. He painted ten major murals between 1923 and 1953. Most of them are frescoes (paintings on walls covered with wet plaster). His greatest Mexican mural, at Mexico City's Ministry of Education, consists of 134 panels depicting the history, festivals, and industries of Mexico. Between 1930 and 1935, Rivera painted seven murals in the United States. The most famous of these, the fresco cycle, or series, Detroit Industry (1932-33) at the Detroit Institute of Arts, celebrates factory workers.

Rivera married several times. One of his wives was Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Rivera died in Mexico City on November 24, 1957.

Linda Bank DownsAuthor, Diego Rivera: The Detroit Industry Murals

Johannes Vermeer from The New Book of Knowledge®

The Dutch painter Jan (or Johannes) Vermeer was little known for almost 200 years after his death. Today his works are rare and highly prized. He was born on October 31, 1632, in Delft, the town in which he spent his whole life. His father was a silk weaver, art dealer, and tavern operator. In 1653, Jan became a member of the painters' guild. In the same year he married Catharina Bolnes.

Few documents exist to give us exact information about Vermeer's career as an artist. We do not even know the name of his teacher. But he did leave a number of clues to his temperament and interests. In most of his paintings, one or two figures—often women—stand or sit quietly in a room. They may be reading, chatting, or performing some household task. Everything combines to create an impression of peaceful calm. Vermeer painted every object and piece of furniture in realistic detail. Some of the wall decorations--paintings and maps—in his works have even been identified. Sometimes these paintings within the painting depict symbols that were well known to the people of the time. They were intended to add meaning to the activity of the figures in the room.

Vermeer was extremely interested in color and the optical qualities of light. He was an extraordinary artisan who worked with many delicate glazes to create his effects.

After his father died in 1655, Vermeer managed the family art business. He probably supported his wife and eleven children by selling other painters' work. When France invaded the Netherlands in 1672, Vermeer's dealership began to fail. He died on December 15, 1675, leaving his wife with many debts. Vermeer was almost forgotten until a French critic "rediscovered" him in 1866. He ranks today among the world's greatest masters.

Reviewed by Arthur Wheelock, Jr.Author, Jan Vermeer

Sandro Botticellifrom The New Book of Knowledge®

The poetic paintings of the Renaissance master known as Botticelli often describe the beginnings of things. With grace and delicacy Botticelli depicted not just love but the birth of the love goddess, not simply faith but the birth of Christ, not only the beauty of nature but the blooming of spring. He turned for subject matter to history and religion, to poetry and legend.

Botticelli's life is somewhat like a legend. Little about it can be proved since much of what we know has come down through the ages by word of mouth. He was born in Florence and died there when he was about 65. His real name was Alessandro Filipepi, but he took the name Botticelli from his older brother, whose nickname was Botticello, meaning "little barrel." By 1460 he was probably studying with the well-known artist Fra Filippo Lippi. By the time he was 25, Botticelli had already become teacher to Lippi's son and was considered one of the best painters in Florence.

Among his many admirers was Pope Sixtus IV. In 1481 the Pope invited Botticelli to Rome to help decorate the Sistine Chapel, which had recently been completed. Botticelli's contributions to the chapel include wall paintings illustrating the life of Moses.

The Medici family, rulers of Florence, were the greatest supporters of artists and scholars in all Italy. Botticelli received encouragement from them and may even have lived in the Medici palace. The scholars there were fascinated by the poetry and philosophy of ancient Greece. As his painting the Primavera shows us, Botticelli, too, was entranced by the creators of ancient mythology. The spiritual quality of his religious paintings can also be seen in his portrayals of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece.

In his later years Botticelli was influenced by the monk Savonarola, who preached against the vanity and extravagance of the Florentines. Botticelli became very religious and painted only religious subjects.

Botticelli's paintings are famous for their dancing lines, flowing forms, and delicate details, admirably represented in the Primavera. His golden-haired Venus, goddess of love, has in her eyes the faraway look of one lost in a daydream, which appears so often in Botticelli's work.

Reviewed by Ariane Ruskin Batterberry

Author, The Pantheon Story of Art for Young People